1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to small office/home office (“SOHO”) network management, and more particularly, to software based tools for active management of networking components.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional SOHO networking devices provide a user interface for configuration of device features. The user interface is commonly based on web browsing protocols or, less often, on custom personal computer (“PC”) based software, or standard logging mechanisms, such as, electronic mail (“e-mail”), e.g., Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (“SMTP”), or syslog. Although all of these configuration solutions involve a personal computer communicating with a SOHO networking device for configuration, installation, or status reporting purposes, none of these solutions are designed to be used in a real-time and continuous manner. That is, in these conventional systems a user actively interfaces with the networking device by running the user interface software, performing the required configuration functions, and closing the user interface. Thus, no active continuous communication link remains between the SOHO networking device and the user.
It is desirable for the user interface of the SOHO networking devices to be continuous and in real-time because the use of most networking devices is also continuous, or ongoing, and in real-time. For example, SOHO networking devices are used continuously on a day to day basis to access the Internet, and the use is real-time when the user expects an instant response, that is, when a user attempts to load a page from a website across the Internet. Thus, it is desirable to have an open communication link that is continuous and in real-time between the networking device and the user to transmit functional information during the normal operation of the device. Functional information, as opposed to other network data traffic information, is information that relates to the operation or function of the SOHO network device. It remains in the section of the network between the device and the user, i.e., it is not traffic data going through the network device to other sites in the SOHO network or to an outside network.
There are several advantages for a user-network device interface which is ongoing and real-time, for example, a user can be constantly apprised of the status of their network devices, not only when the user decides to actively check the device status. In addition, changing configuration of the networking devices would be easy and quick. Similarly, problems with the devices can cause instant notifications to the user and allow faster problem resolution. An additional benefit would be evident for the installation and initial configuration of the network devices since the device can provide feedback to simplify the installation and initial configuration.
Examples of such network devices include SOHO gateways (also referred to as routers), hardware firewalls, wireless network access points, and the like. These network devices may combine several functions, such as, for example, a SOHO gateway device may include a firewall function, network address translation (“NAT”), dynamic host configuration services (“DHCP”), content filtering, ad blocking, virtual server functions, wireless networking functions, and the like. However, even these multifunctional conventional SOHO gateways lack ongoing, real-time communication links between the network device and the user as described above. For example, unlike their software counterparts, SOHO hardware firewalls, or multifunction SOHO gateways with hardware firewall features, must be configured statically at some time, e.g., during installation, with a set of firewall rules that are subsequently implemented during the hardware firewall operation, without further user input. In contrast, software or personal firewalls running on individual computers provide real time interaction with the user by issuing notifications to the user and asking for user input, for example, to enable certain applications to access the Internet, to block unsolicited attempts to access computer ports, and the like.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and method to provide an ongoing, real-time communication channel between SOHO networking devices and users for transmission of device related functional information.